‘I feel the policy of throwing people on the streets is unacceptable. Sverdlovsk Region Government is currently negotiating with OAO Uralsvyazinform for finding employment for the people the company is about to make redundant. They promised to do their best to complete this task,’ Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. Now the telecommunications provider is going to lay off 1,750 people, which comes to about 8% of the company’s current staff. The layoffs have to do with the

‘OAO Uralelectromed signed a contract with a Swiss company for a research on the possibility of building a monorail between Yekaterinburg and Verkhnyaya Pyshma; the link would stretch from Prospekt Kosmonavtov underground station in Yekaterinburg to Verkhnyaya Pyshma’s bus service station,’ an architect from OOO UMMC Holding Vladimir Veniaminov said during a presentation on Verkhnyaya Pyshma’s development strategy. Sverdlovsk Region Government actually considered the idea as early as June 2007, but the link in question was a railway bus. The bus was supposed to follow the route of the

Sverdlovsk Region Duma Industrial/Agrarian Policy & Nature Management Committee approved of the changes proposed for the region’s Public Property Management & Privatization Program for the year 2010. Now Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Public Property Management suggests that Uralzarubezhservice, a state unitary enterprise, should merge with InExpo State Regional Exhibition Center.

Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service is to resume looking into Case 85 involving OAO AKB Investbank’s GRAN subsidiary and Yekaterinburg branch of OAO Voyenno-Strakhovaya Kompaniya, an insurer. The two companies are accused o violating Article 11 (part 1, paragraph 5) of the Competition Protection Act. OAO AKB Investbank and OAO Voyenno-Strakhovaya Kompaniya reportedly signed a cooperation agreement on life and property insurance of customers willing to get a loan at the bank in order to buy some real estate. The FAS division believes this agreement might result

Moscow Arbitration Court supported the ruling and order of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service regarding OAO Svoboda, a cosmetics company. The FAS stated earlier that Svoboda had committed an act of unfair competition through the illegal use of a trademark belonging to Concern Kalina. Now both Kalina and Svoboda produce and sell hand creams branded Silky Hands and Silky, respectively. The packaging of Kalina’s Silky Hands is protected by the company’s trademark certificate. It appears that when choosing a design for its Silky hand cream, Svoboda did not come up with its own ideas but

Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service keeps investigating the previously postponed Case 50 involving OAO Uralsvyazinform; the telecommunications provider is suspected of violating Article 18 (part 1) of the Competition Protection Law. It has been alleged that the company backed out of a tender for the financial organizations despite the fact that the law requires that tenders be used for placing orders for financial services on a contract basis.

‘We’ve come back to the Parliament by now. Roman Kadyrov arrived at the scene to apologize for the incident; so did the Minister of Internal Affairs, too,’ Sverdlovsk Region Duma deputy Igor Danilov told UrBC. An act of terror was committed in the Parliament building in Chechnya this morning. A suicide bomber killed himself, while three more terrorists managed to enter the building. The special police forces locked down the site where Sverdlovsk Duma deputies Igor Danilov, Anatoly Sukhov, and Askhat Masayev were present at that moment. The officials arrived in Chechnya on a visit; they were

‘Nizhneserginskiy metal goods plant is Sverdlovsk Region’s primary consumer of scrap metal, so about 30,000 carriages of the product get delivered here every year. The plant’s highly efficient radiation control system makes it possible to detect each and every instance of possibly radioactive materials arriving on its premises. We have 100% control over the scrap metal,’ the plant’s press service reports. As recently as last year, numerous batches of scrap metal with alarming radiation background were registered at the enterprise. According to the Ministry for Natural Resources, these

A branch of the Italian Russian Association, an association of Italian entrepreneurs in Russia, will soon be introduced in Yekaterinburg, the Association’s President Vittorio Torrembini announced at the opening ceremony of a business forum on Russia and Italy’s interregional cooperation. ‘This branch will contribute to the development of Italy and Sverdlovsk Region’s relations. We’ll coordinate meetings of Italian and Sverdlovsk businesspeople and are also planning to support the entrepreneurs in many ways,’ Torrembini said. In fact, the two parties’ trade turnover reached $315m in the first

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service imposed a 100,000-ruble fine on ZAO P.R. Rus for launching an inappropriate Martell advertisement, the spokesperson for the Service reports. The FAS declared earlier that advertising the cognac under the slogan, ‘Pleasure born in 1715’ contradicted Article 5 (part 5, paragraph 3) and Article 21 (part 1, paragraph 1) of the Federal Advertising Act. ‘Our committee came to the conclusion that this Martell advertisement displayed an act of consuming a strong drink and created an impression that drinking cognac makes you feel better. According to Article 38

‘Excessive red tape on both sides is the factor preventing the efficient cooperation between Italy and Russia on the whole and Italy and Sverdlovsk Region in particular. We really need to cut down on the bureaucracy, and customs is one important place to start. This certainly isn’t a kind of problem that can be solved quickly, but it keeps dragging on for twenty years now. Every time we are told that the issue is just about to be settled, but when a new piece of legislation comes into effect, things only turn out to get even worse,’ President of the Italian Russian Association, an association

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and Atakas Group announced that a cold rolling department is to be launched at MMK-Atakas production facility in Iskenderun, Turkey. This $250m cold rolling department includes a continuous pickling line capable of producing 1.2 million tons of metal goods a year, a reversing mill with the capacity of 750,000 tons of goods a year, a continuous hot-dip galvanizing unit with the capacity of 450,000 tons of goods a year, and a polymeric coating line with the annual capacity of 200,000 tons of goods a year. By the end of 2011, the department is expected

‘Most of the money allocated by the Russian Federation Government will be directed to improving upon our education and scientific research processes as well as to upgrading our IT infrastructure, building up our personnel potential, and promoting Ural Federal University as a brand. Besides, some of the funding will be invested in faculty internationalization, that is, attracting professors from abroad,’ Rector of B.N. Yeltsin Ural Federal University Viktor Koksharov announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. Now in accordance with a special program adopted by the Russian Federation

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development summed up the results of an online contest which was organized to celebrate the bank’s 20th anniversary. For six months, the UBRD promotional website was available to all users, who could keep track of the bank’s anniversary events and win prize points by answering quiz questions and taking part in mini-games. Twenty finalists with the month’s highest scores were selected in September 2010; all of these winners will be given sports bags, while the top five participants will also receive a discount card, a traditional prize from the bank’s

United Company RUSAL coordinated unscheduled security checks at its enterprises in order to make sure all the water development facilities are safe, the company’s press service reports. These measures were taken after an accident occurred at Ajka Timfoldgyar plant in Hungary on October 4, 2010; over one million cubic meters of red mud oozed out of a leaking reservoir. The toxic waste flooded 40 sq m of the surrounding territory, including a few settlements in the west of Hungary. Nine people were killed in the accident, with fifty more still in hospital. ‘The facilities of Bogoslovskiy and

Motorola is closing down its Russian office and stops delivering its produce on the Russian market, Gazeta.ru reports. The mobile phone manufacturer’s distributors haven’t commented on the situation so far. Motorola’s decision to leave Russia is most likely related to the company’s wish to reduce its outgoings by giving up on some local markets. According to Mobile Research Group, Motorola is also closing its offices in Africa and Europe (the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Ukraine) this year.

The National Rating Agency halted YugraFinance Management Company’ individual reliability rating for the time being and placed the company on a waiting list with Indefinite rating outlook, as the management company’s rating will most likely be reconsidered soon. The Agency reports the need to reconsider the company’s rating arises from the uncertainty of its further business activity status. This uncertainty, in its turn, has to do with the results of an independent audit check of Khanty-Mansiysk Private Retirement Fund, the founder and key customer of YugraFinance. ‘We mean to watch over how

The customs points of Ural Customs Administration transferred 36.12 billion RUR worth of customs duties and payments to the federal budget in nine months of 2010, says the spokesperson for the Administration. This figure actually exceeds that for January-September 2009 by 2.42 billion RUR. Last year, the economic recession caused a 27% drop in the budget payments on the part of the Ural enterprises, especially the metallurgical, machine-building, and the energy-sector ones. The export-related payments plunged by 3.9 billion RUR in 2009 compared with 2008; the import-related payments went down

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against the management of ZAO YugraInvestStroyProyekt recently; the company’s top executives are suspected of abusing their authority. It has been detected that, regardless of failing to meet its contractual obligations (putting up an apartment block in Uray, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region, with the future apartment owners’ money), the developer in question violated the Russian Federation Urban Planning Code requirements and got an illegitimate permission to have the building commissioned. As a result, the private investors, who had directed a lot

The Plenipotentiary Representation of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District is going to watch over the reorganization of OAO Uralsvyazinform, a telecommunications provider, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Sergey Smetanyuk announced at a meeting with Uralsvyazinform’s General Director Sergey Lukash. The meeting was dedicated to the latest changes in the company’s organization and personnel policy. In fact, Uralsvyazinform intends to lay off 1,740 employees at the end of 2010 and during the first half of 2011. The